“How Dirty Can I Get?”

And in our review I wasn’t all that kidding when I suggested that perhaps any 18-year old young man heading off to college might benefit from owning a BUTT-FACE towel… because no matter how many containers of Tide you send him off with, they will come back completely full at Thanksgiving break.

So, with this in mind, it was interesting that today I came across an article from the UK’s “Daily Mail.” It seems that documentary-maker Nicky Taylor gave up washing her body, face, hair and teeth. And ditched all beauty products, including creams, deodorants, and make-up.

For six weeks. You read it correctly. Six weeks.

Purpose, you ask? To see if the annual billions of dollars spent on beauty products are, in essence, a waste of money. Purely “social and psychological armour.” And an insidious way of letting hundreds of chemicals seep into our bodies.

She wanted to find out just how normal her life could be without the aid of her daily beauty and grooming routine.

She did complete her project. She did suffer the effects of her determination to complete the experiment.

After a couple of weeks her children refused to snuggle. Her fellow school “mums’ shunned her (interestingly enough, only after they were TOLD of her experiment). Her ponytail held itself in place with no rubber band.

She did, yes, smell differently.

But she also noticed extraordinary changes. Her Irritable Bowel Syndrome disappeared. A persistent eye cyst disappeared. Her skin began to glow.

Perhaps all of those chemicals had, in fact, contributed to these conditions?

And, through before and after test levels of bacteria and yeast on various parts of her body, “after” was deemed normal for a human being.

After six weeks of this experiment, Nicky Taylor couldn’t wait to shower long and luxuriously. But she did prove to herself (and perhaps the world) that excessive amounts of beauty enhancers may just work in reverse.

Less may be more.

So, when your son or brother or nephew returns from college with his unlaundered BUTT-FACE towel, just think how healthy he must be. If you can stand it.

Now I am wondering… could any of us take this challenge!?

(By the way, “How Dirty Can I Get?” is on BBC on September 5)

– Sharon

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17 Responses

Now that I have two kids under five, I go unwashed more often than I care to admit.
I would stop short of saying that my ‘skin glows’ though… I don’t think I could go long enough to get the ‘glow’ factor.

OK. I’ve gotten as close to doing this experiment as I will ever get during a hospital stay. Here’s what I found:

I won’t go without deodorant. It would cost me dearly to smell that bad in professional situations.

My face needs some kind of cleaning daily or the blackheads will take over, but it does not need all sorts of expensive creams, make up, scrubs and masks. Just simple cleanser and moisturizer will get you along just fine.

The hair gets really oily and makes my back oily after 2 weeks. I had gone 4 weeks without my hair being washed and I can tell you, I could pare it down to once a week and be OK but any longer and it becomes a hazardous waste zone because of all the oil.

Um, well except for the not brushing my teeth and washing my hair and wearing deodorant, I’ve done it, my whole life.
Sure, I wash my body and face in the shower….the shampoo that runs off of my hair does the job fine in my opinion.
I don’t have a daily regimen or whatever for getting ready. I shower when I find the time, which is uaully every 3 days.

I’ve always wanted to age gracefully. For me, that means accepting the skin I’m in. Sure, a little mascara now and again doesn’t hurt to make me look awake, but, ick, all these nasty creams and cover ups and things they sell. Have never used and will never use any of it. To me it’s all the same crap give or take an ingredient so someone else can get rich.

BTW, I have great skin. Have never had a problem with acne or oiliness.

The towel is pretty funny for a college kid, my hubby might think it’s funny too. But the experiment… I don’t think I could do it, but I do believe that my own skin would be in much better shape if I didn’t fill it with make ups.

It is interesting waht happend to her.. I mean the imporvement in different areas… I just don’t think I could do it. I love the feeling of freshly shaved legs… and clean hands and hair. Can’t live without it.

I dont think I could. I cant stand not brushing my teeth a few times a day, morning – afternoon-night. I could prolly go for alittle bit without washing the hair seeing as how I have pretty short hair, but man would it look ugly without gel. Oh, and no deoderant – yikes.

I would never be able to complete that task! I have issues. I live in FL for chrissake! Sweat capital of the world! Yuck! I was freaking out after my hysterectomy when they wouldn’t ley me bathe for 3 freakin’ days!! Sponge baths don’t cut it.

oh gosh that is weird. Ive seen those towels before in magazines, so funny. I almost got one for Travis.

I dont wear Deoderant actually. I dont sweat though. Its unhealthy that I dont.. but I dont. never have. I over heat extremely easy.. so it kinda stinks most days because I cant do much outdoors without getting to hot.

I go a few days between washing my hair… but cant seem to go a day without washing my face… its a must.
Although I stll have breakouts.
Just a part of life w/ kids and periods!
ahh.. joy.

I do believe that Less is More…I use to use a lot of products on my face, I am a Cliniqe girl, then I discovered Dove facial cloths in a pop up container with cucumber/melon….I have faithfully used these for over a year now and my skin is better and feels much cleaner and at my age, I think I look just as youthful. They are very convenient and you just throw away after use. They give you a month supply and are inexpensive. After I cleanse, I use the cliniqe moisturizer and that’s it!
By the way, thanks for visiting my blog and for the sweet comment. Yes, us Grands need to stick together….